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ajesh34

@ajesh34

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👈🏾Associate Fellow, Central St Martins
👇🏾Food columnist, FT htsi
👇🏾Food Writer of the Year, F&M Awards 🏆
👇🏾Columnist of the Year, BSME (Shortlisted)

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

I had my Martini book launch party in the bar at @rules_restaurant so I was thrilled - even a bit moved - to learn that this very special building has been donated to the @nationaltrust . Beautiful, cranky, eccentric, historic it has an aura like nowhere else. And I think that back on that gin-fuelled night in late 2024 we all kinda felt that.

So bravo JP Mayhew and Ricky McMenemy - I salute you for your refusal to sell out. In this increasingly enshit-i-fied world it is lovely to see someone standing up for what is good.

Here are a few scenes from the party - too many precious people to name but it was particularly cool to have my three Martini mentors there, Rules legend @brianatsilva , @alessandro_palazzi and Giuliano Morandin who mixed me my first Martini at the Dorchester back in 2005 (and @robbiegorgeous who frogmarched me there). And McMenemy himself, of course, who stopped by for a drink.

The last slide is the Martini we served on the night which was created at Rules by Brian Silva - and which appears in my Martini book

All the good pics are by @urszula.soltys.photography

*props to my @financialtimes colleague @jayrayner1 for the scoop

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Big news baby. 🗞️. Picked up your FT this weekend? If not then you’re missing out on an incredible article on my favourite topic CHICKEN WINGS 🪽 and guess what! Were featured!!! Thanks @ajesh34 for putting together just a brilliant article. Great to see @wingfestuk in the major tabloids. Big shout to all the other amazing traders mentioned too.

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A supreme anchovy treat & distraction from far less pleasant things going on in my life. I returned from @slow_food_events with a precious jar of Slow Food Presidia Masculina da Magghia from Ognina in Sicily given to me by @gaetano_urzi who is President of the Co-operative del Golfo, close to Catania, and remains a passionate fisherman and producer himself as well as a huge supporter of @slow_food_italia actively involved in education and restoration. What makes these anchovies so special is that they are still fished according to the ancient tradition of the menaide by only a few families in Sicily. This is the same tradition practised by @alici_di_menaica on the Cilento coast. Listen to the reel to find out how they taste and buy ‘Consider the Anchovy: a journey in pursuit of the little fish with the big flavour @headlinebooks to find out more. Urzi is working with @slowfood_international & Slow Fish on a project to restore & build some fifteen to twenty more menaide fishing boats to help the community and develop peaca tourism. Huge thanks to Manila Di Maira @emotional.sicily for the initial introduction to Urzi and also Gianni @navalerodolico who hand build trezzote, colourful wooden boats using ancient Phoenician carpentry techniques passed down orally! #slowfood #anchovies #foodie #sicily #breastcancerawareness

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Where does the A-List go to eat? In London, they flock to the Arlington; in New York they head to The Odeon; in LA, between the Chateau Marmont and Sunset Tower, spots like Dan Tana’s in West Hollywood remain legendary. At the link in bio, @ajesh34 explores the latest celebrity food haunts for the new-gen of showbiz.⁠
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📸: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo⁠
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#AList #WestHollywood #SushiPark #LosAngeles #Celebrity

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At Worcester College, Oxford, attempts to modernise its formal hall dining rules revealed students had an unlikely appetite for pomp, candlelit dinners and Latin grace. The new menus, however, have moved on from the “execrable” food remembered by former students. @ajesh34 gets a taste, at the link in bio. ⁠
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📸: King’s College, Cambridge, 1989 © Patrick Ward/Popperfoto via Getty Images⁠
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#Oxbridge #FormalHall #Oxforduniversity #KingsCollege #WorcesterCollege

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“In an age of GLP-1s and restraint, there’s something freeing about gnawing on a rib and getting sauce all over one’s face,” argues @ajesh34. In this week’s food column, the self-proclaimed messy eater makes the case for munching with your hands and recommends the best places for it – at London’s @plazakhaogaeng you’ll even be given a pink apron, gloves and a finger bowl. Get stuck in at the link in bio. ⁠
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📸: Gaeng Gati Hoi Malaeng Pluu (Thai coconut curry with mussels) at @plazakhaogaeng⁠
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#food #mussels #curry

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FINANCIAL TIMES…
Blood, Guts & Black Pudding gets its first official press coverage in the @financialtimes online now and in print this weekend talking with @ajesh34 for his “How To Spend It Well” column, where he asks and we discuss:
“Should we be cooking and consuming more food with blood?”

Click the 🔗 in Bio + Stories to read the article in full online, or in print with the Weekend edition of the Financial Times!

#bloodgutsandblackpudding #howtospenditwell #financialtimes #flavour #authornews

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The joy of being quoted at length talking pissaladiere & my search for the elusive pissalat & research for ‘Consider the Anchovy: a journey in pursuit of the little fish with the big flavour’ along the Riviera in @fthtsi this weekend. Buy the book 18% off @amazonuk or at all good independent bookshops & signed copies @souschefuk . Thank you @ajesh34 & so happy that @adambyatt @matthewryle share my delight in its allure. And if you ever want to try vrai pissalat chefs, get in touch. #pissaladière #riviera #picnic #chefs #books

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Cafe Deco is so very special. A weekly changing menu that is always perfectly considered and so well balanced. Tonight’s dinner had all the charms of late summer that I love, the first new season sweetcorn and girolles.

Grilled sardines with gremolata.
Marinated Marconi Rosso peppers, anchovies, olives and egg.
Freekeh, courgette, green beans and herb salad.
Baked salt pollock, potatoes, confit onions and aioli.
Fried chicken and corn.

Too full for pud! Next time. Thanks for sharing @ajesh34!

@cafe_deco_bloomsbury
@tobiasanna

@gemmabellandco

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Forget flowers and leave the wine at home. Pigeon stock, Cheez-Its and an industrial blowtorch make for far more interesting dinner party gifts – at least according to podcast host Chris Black (@donetodeathprojects), BAO co-founder @erchenchang and a discerning cast of expert entertainers. @ajesh34 finds out what real foodies bring to dinner. Discover their picks at the link in bio.⁠
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📸: (1) @julienlnrd, (2) @cobeyarner, (3) @puzzleung (4) @jonny_gent (5) @qualitywinesfarringdon, (6) @roxanelagache⁠
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#dinnerparty #hosting

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A first look at Florence Knight’s incredible new restaurant Lunette, opening this September at St Clement, photographed for this weekends FTHTSI. @florence.knight @lunette.london @fthtsi @st.clementlondon @ajesh34

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We had a great evening at the @roxhillmedia Summer Party last night at The Pavilion Club with our client @pantalonestequila serving up Margaritas and Paloma cocktails, mixed with award-winning organic tequila created by @officiallymcconaughey and @camilamcconaughey

Fascinating insider tips from Roxstar journalists @ajesh34 James Stewart @soniaharia @roisin.dervishokane - hosted brilliantly by Roxhill consultant and @the_pig_hotels publicist Emma Cripwell

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